Remember that instance a couple years ago when, if you wanted to find out what was in the new fire fighter union contract before the DeKalb council voted on it, you had to go visit the city manager? Because the contract wasn’t included in the council meeting agenda available online? Proposed state legislation co-sponsored, among…
A Peek at DeKalb’s Assets
Today we examine City of DeKalb’s assets, more specifically the relationship between capital assets and net assets in recent years, which have become an area of concern for me. I’ve developed three charts containing year-over-year data from the city’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports (CAFRs) submitted (as AFRs) to the Office of the Illinois Comptroller. The…
More Charting of the CAFRS: General and Special Revenues and Expenditures
As in the last post, I’ve gathered year-over-year information using City of DeKalb’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports (CAFRs) as reported to the Illinois Comptroller. All governments have to do CAFRs and we ordinary citizens are supposed to be able to understand them. As a layperson I try to figure out why and how the numbers…
The Biernacki Regime: A Cautionary Tale
The City of DeKalb did me a HUGE favor. When I first went to look for the FY2013 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) earlier this month, it hadn’t been uploaded to the city’s website yet (though it is there now). So, I turned to the Illinois Comptroller’s online collection of local government reports instead. The…
One More Reason DeKalb is a Fantastic Place to Live
[Photo credit: J.p. Salovesh]
State of Illinois Changes Bond Counsel
This post updates one from August about Ty Fahner, partner of the law firm Mayer Brown, who told the Chicago Civic Committee the following last spring: Last March, during a Civic Committee discussion of the state’s public pension problems, Fahner claimed that some members had talked to bond ratings agencies about lowering Illinois’ bond rating…
City of DeKalb Might Have a Warming Center
Last Saturday on Facebook, I crafted a “status” asking where the City of DeKalb warming centers are. There was nothing on the city’s website or Facebook page about them, and the last council agenda seemed to have dispensed with the idea entirely. Warming Centers One of the current challenges faced with the moving of the…
Final Payouts to DeKalb’s Retired City Manager
When I told you about City of DeKalb’s policy to allow staff in administrative positions to bank comp time — as well as how much comp certain employees had accumulated — I could not include the comp and other accumulations of former city manager Mark Biernacki because he’d already cashed out in mid-June. But, here…
Bloomington Alderman Alleges Open Meetings Act Violations
Via The Pantagraph today: Ward 4 Alderman Judy Stearns on Dec. 6 filed a request for review with the Illinois attorney general’s public access counselor, which has since asked for more information from the city. She alleged the council during a Nov. 15 closed session discussed issues not exempt from the state’s Open Meetings Act,…
Anatomy of a Referendum Campaign Begun by an Aurora Nonprofit
**Update 12/24 on the hearing: Kane County Chronicle reports that a decision on the campaign disclosure complaint against Show You Care Kane is not expected until next year.** What would you say if Kish Health Systems were to send its chief executive to open and fund a political action committee (PAC) in order to promote…